Live: Scorpions

After excellent performances by Alice Cooper and Judas Priest, the moment had finally arrived: Scorpions took to the stage to celebrate their 60th birthday with 45,000 fans at the Niedersachsenstadion.

However, we had to be patient: the band was supposed to take the stage at 9:15 p.m. And what happened? Nothing at first. But the audience didn't let that spoil their good mood and celebrated Germany's best and most important hard rock band of all time with minutes of Mexican waves.

Half an hour late, Klaus, Rudolf, Matthias, Pawel and Mikkey opened the set appropriately with “Coming Home“. As it was now dark, from the very first minute we were treated to a magnificent stage show that eclipsed anything we had seen in Germany to date. There may be some who found the fireworks and flashing lights on the audience's wrists a bit too much, but I have to say that the whole thing was visually impressive. Since this special concert is to be recorded for posterity on Blu-ray and DVD, among other formats, it was only logical to pull out all the stops – after all, how often do you celebrate a 60th birthday?

I knew the set list in advance – and it held no surprises, as it focused heavily on the extremely successful albums Love at First Sting and Crazy World, as well as other classics from the 1980s (“Blackout", “Make it Real", "The Zoo"...). However, early in the evening there was a 70s medley that included hits such as “Speedy's Coming“ and the magnificent “Top of the Bill“. At this point, I would have been delighted to see a guest appearance by former Scorpions guitar wizard Uli Jon Roth. However, he had already announced the night before that he would not be there.

The same applied to all former members: no Francis Buchholz, no Hermann Rarebell and certainly no Michael Schenker. I still think that's a shame, but it's also understandable, as the band wants to release this concert as a live album. They probably didn't want to a) take any risks and b) engage in lengthy negotiations over rights or profit sharing.

Overall, the Scorpions' performance was very strong: memorable was the brilliant drum solo by former Motörhead drummer Mikkey Dee, who remains an absolute stroke of luck for the band founded by Rudolf Schenker in 1965.

Klaus is undoubtedly getting on in years. He sang well, but at 77, he has a rather limited range of motion, as expected. Things looked a little different in 2023, but it's important to remember that the singer underwent major spinal surgery just last year. So, at this point, nothing but respect for Klaus!

Incidentally, the importance of the Scorpions for our hard rock and metal scene became clear once again in the hours before the performance: messages of greeting and tributes from the greats were repeatedly shown on the video walls. Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Metallica, Kiss and Bon Jovi, among others, had their say.

For me, it was like coming full circle: Crazy World, released in 1990, was the first heavier album I bought on cassette (yeah, I'm that old...) and CD when I was 10 years old. So the Scorpions were my introduction to the world of electric guitar music. On 5 July 2025, this became very clear to me once again, as many songs are part of my DNA and Klaus' voice and the guitar playing of Matthias Jabs and Rudolf Schenker always make me feel at home. Coming home, indeed...

All in all, the trip to the capital of Lower Saxony was a great experience that I will cherish for a long time to come. Three top bands, all of which were impressive – plus the aforementioned tributes via video message – I will never forget it.